


Felicity

by NoraNat



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, I legit have no idea what to tag this, M/M, Mutual Pining, disclaimer: i do not know spanish, escape room, everyone is alive and are friends because i said so, it's just friends having fun while sleep deprived
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:40:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23615377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoraNat/pseuds/NoraNat
Summary: Turns out online escape games are way easier than going through an escape room irl, at least in those you’re not worrying over how you’ll manage to impress your crush. / A story of two idiots who love each other and don’t know how to deal with it.
Relationships: Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 17
Kudos: 212





	Felicity

**Author's Note:**

> Escape room? More like escape my reality aHAA But seriously, this fic started as something I worked on while being internetless outside, and then it become something I worked on whenever I was feeling bored. Then in the end I forced myself to just finish it XD
> 
> So here have this anxious mess' emotional support escape fic! Literally!
> 
> PS: I actually started this in May last year, but finished it now ‘cause I rewrote it a bunch of times. So I hope it’s good after all that hard work! And I recommend listening to background music while reading, it enhances the experience!
> 
> Also SPECIAL THANKS to Hassie-chan, Natty and Rei-sama for encouraging me while working on this fic and even after finishing it! Seriously they've done a lot I love them so much ;;

School is difficult to some, easy to some. But for college and university students, everyone would agree that it is utterly exhausting. No matter how smart you are, the amount of hard work you had to force yourself to undertake was… overtiring, to say the least. College made Shuichi’s life feel even bleaker than it already was, but there was something that took place during this period of his life that he was incapable of truly hating these years.

He met individuals who he can call friends. Sure, he did have friends before, but it’s commonly known that friends you make at your youthful years won’t last a lifetime. And the friendships he has now may not last as long as he’d hope for. Yet, he was still content at this state, he believed in them and they believed in him, and if they do break his heart in the near future, he knows he won’t regret a moment with his friends. These memories meant a lot to him, they helped him grow as a person, helped him get more confident, and even helped him hold on to hope that maybe he has a bright future ahead of him. (If he passes these ridiculous exams that is.)

Shuichi was always up to making memories for his friends, but sometimes… things happen at the worst possible timing.

“Aren't you guys _excited_?!” Kaede asked one afternoon as she was casually walking backwards. In front of her were the rest of her dorm mates who she may or may not have somehow dragged outside for a group event.

Kaede was Shuichi’s first friend, without her he wouldn’t have had the courage to introduce himself to his dorm mates. He was grateful for everything she’s done for him and was sure there was nothing he could do to express his gratitude, other than telling her about how he feels again and again. His best friend would just laugh and say she feels the same, and he shouldn’t put her on such a high pedestal.

He could never even bring himself to even get mad at her if he tried, even though she chose the worst time to make everyone reluctantly leave the warm confines of their beds.

But why was her timing off? Well, everyone has recently suffered through college midterms, and they haven’t slept for weeks. When it was finally over Kaede forced them all outside to bond because it's been a while since they’ve last grouped up and had fun. She did have a point, this was the only possible time for them to be all free, but… How does she have so much energy? They all know for a fact that she didn’t exactly have it easy with the exams either, she was average at best. At least it was good enough in Shuichi’s standards.

She wasn’t the only one who didn’t look like the undead, Kaito and Kokichi seemed just as energetic as her. Which was kind of expected, they always were the ones full of energy in the mornings. It was rare to see them ever tired.

Kaito was Shuichi’s best friend after Kaede and his roommate at the dorms. He is a college student aspiring to be an astronaut and is full of energy and optimism just like Kaede. Shuichi wished he was as positive as them, but he guessed it’s why he was naturally drawn to optimistic people like them. He needed that kind of happiness in his life and he didn’t realize how much he craved it until now.

And then there is Kokichi. Shuichi wasn’t sure how to describe him, every time his brain switched to the topic of the smaller boy it came to a sudden halt. As if his brain ran into an error. Kokichi was also energetic, a liar, a troublemaker, liked to mess with people and was naturally drawn to Shuichi. He couldn’t understand it, he couldn’t understand _him_. But that was what led to him getting more and more fascinated at figuring the mystery that was Kokichi Ouma. Why did his whole personality seem fake? Why was he so fascinated by Shuichi, why was Shuichi so fascinated by him?

When he confessed how he felt about Kokichi to his closest friend, Kaede. (Of course, without specifying who he was talking about and trying to keep things as vague as possible.) She suspected that he might have a crush, and ever since then the idea wouldn’t stop pestering his mind. Is that why he couldn’t think straight whenever he thought about him? Shuichi could only sigh as he pushed everything into a box and locked it, this… wasn’t the time to think about things like that. He had more things to worry about, like the marks of his psychology exam.

Kokichi took that class too... He wonders what marks he will end up with.

Shuichi mentally slapped himself, it’s like the moment he starts thinking about him he couldn’t stop. Kokichi was a close friend like the rest of his group of friends… but perhaps, perhaps there was the possibility of him feeling more, or at least wanting more.

As Shuichi got a hold of himself to dwell over that topic again later, he was shocked as he noticed the green-haired boy walking beside him had looked like a zombie. Rantaro was usually the laid back individual of the group, he never saw him stressed even under the worst pressures, but Shuichi guessed he might’ve had it rough this time around. Meanwhile, Kirumi was acting like this doesn't bother her and she’s fine, but the way her usually graceful step wavers says everything.

Miu was uncharacteristically quiet, not too long ago muttering profanities over and over as Kiibo tried to calm her down. Joining the quiet club were Tsumugi, Maki and Ryoma, and probably Shuichi himself as well. He has no idea when was the last time he heard them or himself talk. He was just lost in his mind, thinking about Kokichi yet again by mistake.

“I’m gonna be brutally honest here, which is a once in a blue moon so you better treasure it. But no one is excited, we want _sleep_ Akamatsu-chan!”

Shuichi raised an eyebrow at the shorter boy. True, everyone wanted to just go back to their dorm rooms and sleep for the next couple of years (Including himself, Shuichi looked like a god damned emo with his hair covering one of his eyes blocking it from the sun. He almost screeched when he was dragged outside by Kaede and Kaito.) But Shuichi knew about Kokichi more than he’d like to admit, he knew he loved panta, loved sliding on the wooden floor with socks on, loved sweet and spicy food, and he knew he loved games and puzzles. An escape room would be right up his alley. He was sure that Kokichi was excited, _very_ excited. So why would he say something like that?

_Unless, he’s lying._

“Nyeh… I don’t want to agree with him, but I agree with him…” Himiko muttered onto Tenko's shoulder as she was being piggybacked by the taller girl, and several students lazily hummed. Including Maki of all people to agree with the ‘gremlin’ as she and Kaito call him.

Rantaro spoke up after that, “Guys Kaede-san prepared all this for us, you can’t respond like that.”

“You’re saying that 'cause you paid for it, also you look like a burnt avocado.” Kokichi pointed out.

Rantaro was about to disagree when Kaito stepped in front of them all, stopping them in their turtle slow tracks. “You guys can’t handle going to an escape room after midterms?! Come on! how will you handle the vomit comet or spending at least 7 hours underwater!”

“We didn’t make a promise to go to the moon and mars when we were kids because of a UFO Momota-kun… It’s plain to see that we won't and don’t want to undergo that kind of training…” Tsumugi said, half-conscious and referencing some space anime that none of them know about.

“Atua says I should be resting, nyahaha…” That was the most tired laugh they’ve ever heard coming from Angie.

“I am excited to see how individuals with such a strong bond will overcome this obstacle…” Even Kiyo, which was really concerning.

Ryoma glared at the concrete under him as he walked, he was acting fine but clearly wasn't when he spoke up, “You're saying it as if Akamatsu signed us up for a killing game, it’s just an escape room.”

Tenko, who was pretty much dead despite her always being filled with energy, still carried Himiko. “An escape room is nothing for Tenko! Tenko will help all the girls escape and keep the degenerate males trapped there forever, that way we will be free from their disgusting behavior!”

“I don’t want the cinnabons to be stuck there though… Ouma can be trapped but not Saihara and Gonta…”

“Hmmm… Tenko believes too that maybe Saihara-san and Gonta are bearable. If Yumeno-san says so then Tenko will let them escape too!”

Gonta who was in another world, with a bunch of sleeping bugs on his shoulders, perked up at the mention of his name. “Huh- Where are we going?” he asked half asleep.

Yikes, was all Shuichi could think as he looked at his group of friends, reluctantly feeling the same as them.

The raven looked at Kaede who didn’t talk for a while, she seemed… sad, shattered even. If he doesn’t say anything then...she will start apologizing.

“Um, everyone.” they all looked at him, surprised he even spoke at all, “I know we’re all tired but... things like this don’t come often. We don’t know when all of us will be free again, and Akamatsu-san just wanted us to bond as friends. I’m sure all of you agreed to come for a reason.” He tried to reason, but being the center of attention made him a bit anxious so it was hard to look up and see their reactions. He did see Kirumi come closer in the corner of his vision.

“Akamatsu-san is a really good friend and always wants the best for us, I did not see a reason to decline.” Kirumi pushed her bangs behind her ear, showing her other eye as she smiled at Kaede. The pianist turned a bit red at the sudden compliment and her friend’s tender face.

“Yea even if small tits chose the time after we were all brutally fucked by midterms, I still think she means well. You all said yes when she asked didn’t you?!” They wanted to agree, but what escaped the strawberry tentacle haired girl’s mouth made them all cringe.

“Why do you have to phrase _everything_ like that…” Kiibo’s face scrunched, but then he looked at the blonde girl who seemed touched by Miu’s comment as well. “but I agree with Iruma-san, we are all grateful for everything you do for us Akamatsu-san. You always plan amazing trips and events for us. Thank you and I’m sorry if it seemed like I didn’t appreciate it before.” he bowed and stood straight up, “You gave me and Iruma-san, and even Ouma-kun, the opportunity to bond with everyone.”

“The hell’s that supposed to mean.” Kokichi pouted, not liking what was just said. “Everyone loves me, you can’t not love talking to me. I had zero problems making friends. ”

The group stopped walking and stared blankly at the purple head.

“What? I’m right! Do you guys not love me?”

….

“So… How was your day today.” Maki had spoken for the first time that morning, totally ignoring Kokichi and making everyone burst laughing. She definitely improved on her jokes, and the way she says things with a straight face made it even more hilarious.

After the laugh fit Kaede spoke up again “Still, I’m really sorry I should've thought about the timing more!” She bowed in front of everyone, Shuichi felt his heart sink that his best friend apologized anyway. She was just that kind of person. “I can play Claude Debussy’s Beau Soir to help you sleep after this if you want!”

“That does sound nice Akamatsu.” Ryoma said and everyone agreed, genuinely wanting to go to sleep while listening to her playing. Everyone except Kokichi of course, who was having some melodramatic moment in a corner.

“I can’t believe this, I’m hurt. This is painful.”

Shuichi felt a bit horrible for his classmates’ reaction to that question, even if it was really funny, it must have hurt a bit. After knowing Kokichi and suffering college with him and everyone, he’s sure that they all consider him a friend and were just joking. So he gathered some courage and walked up to him.

“I love you Ouma-kun if that counts.” Wait, that wasn’t how he was supposed to phrase it-

Both boys visibly _froze_ , and you might say it looked like Kokichi had been shot by an arrow from behind. Multiple giggles in the group sounded at his reaction, completely missing Shuichi’s red face.

“Gonta loves Ouma-kun too!” the pure boy exclaimed, accidentally waking the bugs on his shoulders and they started flying around instead. Shuichi was glad that Gonta had made it less embarrassing and didn’t make it look like the apprentice detective just straight up confessed in front of everyone.

“Atua and Angie love Ouma-kun!”

“You’re a good friend Ouma-kun, even though you bully me a lot.”

“Nyeh… I guess you can escape with us too. If you stop saying magic isn’t real.”

“The gorgeous girl genius actually appreciates your shitty existence, be happy about it!”

“You’re a troublesome child, but you’re still my friend.”

This… went better than he expected. He found himself smiling from relief, they did indeed consider Kokichi an important friend after all. He looked at the boy in question to find him frozen beyond belief.

“I guess you don’t deserve to die like I always thought.”

It was Maki’s comment that made him turn around looking absolutely mortified.

“Are you all possessed or am I having a nightmare?! Is it both?!?!”

They all laughed as Kokichi tried hiding his tinted face under his checkered scarf, Shuichi would be as much of a liar as he is if he didn’t admit to himself that the sight was actually quite adorable. He found himself not regretting his words, even though he almost spilled his feelings out of nowhere.

After a while they started walking again, kind of grouped up. Shuichi was walking alone, lost in thought (thinking about Kokichi of course) and probably no one wanted to disturb him.

_'Still… Why do I feel like Ouma-kun said that they all wanted to sleep for a purpose, was it really to have them all turn against Akamatsu-san? I’m sure that’s not it… did he do it to make someone remind them that they accepted her offer in the first place?’_

He looked at the walking purple haired boy, his feathery mess of hair swaying as he messed with Kiibo and Miu, hearing his carefree laugh as they got more fed up with him and his antics.

_'Crap, I really do find him cute-’_

His breath hitched the moment their gazes connected after the boy had noticed him staring, and in a matter of seconds said boy was running towards him and casually held onto his arm like usual. “Saihara-chan! Are you excited?!” he asked with an obvious sparkle in his eyes. Kokichi was _definitely_ excited.

“I guess so, it will be fun.” he returned the smile, not noticing Kiibo and Miu looking at the two of them with their own knowing ones.

* * *

“You can move things and pick them up but this isn't like those escape online games you played as kids, you can’t combine and mess with things.”

“There is a notepad and a pen on the wall, you can pick it up and write down anything if you want. And please for the love of everything holy don’t break anything.” A chestnut-haired young man explained the rules, he sounded as dead as them this morning.

“All you need to do is find the key to open the door. You have a maximum of two hours but I doubt it'd take that long with sixteen participants, anyway, good luck.” and just like that, he finished explaining and locked them in.

“Okay first off, why is this escape room looking nicer than my own house?!” Kaito exclaimed, immediately sitting on the couch behind him and looking weirdly at the fancy red cushions. He took one in his hands and tried to check if it was filled with foam, but to his surprise the cushion was soft.

“Can Tenko even call this an escape room?” The aikido master looked into the other rooms near them, gasping in amazement. “There are multiple connected rooms here, it’s a weird apartment!”

Kirumi walked around a bit, inspecting her surroundings. She had visited many houses before but from the looks of the other rooms this must be the most exotic one she’s ever been to, it’s like each room is a whole new biome to explore with how different the colour schemes were. And weirdly enough, she didn’t even find dust when she slid her finger on the furniture, cleaning this place seems like a chore so she was surprised they do it so well. “I must admit, this was not what I was expecting.”

They all looked at two certain college mates who were in charge of this event for an explanation, the still kind of tired boy scratched the back of his green head, a bit embarrassed at all the attention on him. While Kaede smiled nervously, “Uh… This was the only place that can have 16 people in one room, or uhh… apartment? So treat it the same way! Escape the apartment!” Positive as always.

“This must have cost a lot… Thank you for spending so much money for us Amami-kun.” Kiibo was still ever the polite one. The rest thanked Rantaro after that making him even more embarrassed.

“Guys it’s nothing much I already have more than I need… A-anyway-” He tried changing the topic, “We have a time limit so should we start exploring? This apartment looks a bit too normal except for the weird layout, so we have to look for clues.”

“Yeah! Let the scavenger hunt begin!” Kokichi excitedly said and ran into some random room, and the others followed suit. Except for Shuichi who was standing there, wanting to investigate the room he was already in first.

He looked around and his eyes landed on a notepad hanging on the wall, with a pen clipped onto it.

 _'They forgot about the notepad… I might as well.’_ he picked it up and tried the pen to see if it works, but then sensed a presence behind him.

“Nishishi, of course the detective would be the one interested in the notepad!”

“AH-” Shuichi flinched, his hair standing up as he felt the boy's breath on his neck. He turned around to find him standing on a stool. “O-Ouma-kun…? I saw you run into a room seconds ago, how are you back here?”

He jumped off the stool “Magic~ Oh wait that's, Yumeno-chan's thing- Well, the rooms loop around, there are two doors here excluding the one that's locked! And you call yourself a detective? Nishishi!” the leader giggled.

Shuichi looked at the 'doors', he wasn’t sure if he could call them doors thanks to the door itself being absent. The rooms kind of just connected in a way, but it was impressive how fast Kokichi went through all of them and came back “I'm not really a dete-”

“Hup hup! Say no more!” Kokichi put his finger on Shuichi's lips making him stop his self-depreciation, “Don’t take everything I say seriously Saihara-chan! You’re smarter than you think, and an amazing detective that helps his uncle a lot.” his face turned a bit threatening, “Got it?”

People would call Shuichi insane for actually feeling his cheeks warm up while Kokichi was giving him that face, all his brain could think about was how Kokichi of all people thinks he’s an amazing detective. He couldn't stop the smile from reaching his face.

“Yes, thank you Ouma-kun.”

The shorter boy said “Good!” hastily turning around, Shuichi was sure he must've been seeing things because it looked like Kokichi himself was blushing as well. “Now let's go, partner!”

Partner… Maybe this was Shuichi’s chance to impress Kokichi. He didn’t believe in himself, but if Kokichi believes in him then he shouldn’t let him down.

* * *

“Yahoo! Ouma-kun, Saihara-kun! Atua told me you would come eventually!” Angie ran up to the two boys as soon as they entered the kitchen. They didn’t have a chance to bask in the warm environment with the orange and yellow lights and walls. “I want to show you what Atua helped me find!”

Before they knew it the somehow hyperactive girl grabbed onto both their hands and led them to a cabinet. And when she tried opening it, it was locked.

Kokichi raised an eyebrow “This is your big discovery? How anticlimactic.”

“Non non! All these cabinets are my discovery! There must be a key to open one of them, no?” she asked while leaning from one side to another.

Shuichi wrote the locked cabinets down as a note, “She may have a point, we need to be on the lookout for keys or keypads that can open them.”

“Nyahaha! Was Angie useful?” the fact that she’s trying to help even though not too long ago she was claiming Atua said she should rest made Shuichi a bit happy.

“Of course. Thank you, Angie.” Shuichi patted her head making her smile widen, it was like colourful flowers and rainbows had burst from her.

But that happy aura was obstructed by strong negative energy coming from the boy beside him, Shuichi felt chills run down his spine as he looked at Kokichi with concern. What’s with the sudden change in mood?

“I-Is something wrong?” He asked the boy who was smiling ominously. Even Kiibo who was bad at reading the air could tell that he wasn’t doing very well. (Kiibo would be really mad at him if he knows about this thought.)

The purple head went back to normal in a matter of seconds, “Something wrong? What would be wrong?” He asked innocently, his head tilted a bit. Kokichi was good at hiding his emotions, like a switch, that ominous expression and aura were gone in a second.

Before Shuichi could reply Kokichi quickly held on to his arm, “Anyway! let’s go look for a key, you coming along Angie-chan?”

The white-haired girl stared at them for a moment, her mouth forming an amused 'o' before she replied, “Atua says I should continue searching around here!” She pushed them both towards the next room. “You can go and investigate the bedroom! There might be keys there!”

“Okay okay! Damn you’re strong.” Kokichi rubbed his back, leaving the kitchen while mumbling something about artists having to work with stone. Shuichi chuckled and asked him if he’s okay.

Angie looked at them as they entered the other room with a smile, “Maybe praying to Atua will help Kokichi with his problem!” and then went to look for a good spot to do just that. Completely forgetting that she was supposed to be looking for more clues.

* * *

In the next room, they found Tenko struggling underneath a bed, while Himiko was sleeping on said bed. The sight was pretty amusing, it reminded Kokichi of a video he saw of a stalker hiding under someone’s bed. Would Tenko do that to Himiko one day? She does follow her around a lot. She probably would call her stalking ‘Walking just extremely close behind.’

“What’s Chabashira-chan doing?” Kokichi asked the ‘sleeping’ Himiko. Shuichi stared at the blue digital alarm on the bedside table which was not working. Kokichi assumed it was just decoration so he didn’t pay much attention to it.

“Nyeh… I have no idea, said something about how there’s _always_ something under the bed…” She yawned, “then just dove in. I saw a bed and thanked every blueberry muffin out there and went to sleep.”

He had no idea what was about her and food, Himiko didn’t eat much yet referenced food in her speech every so often. “Can I join?” Kokichi smirked, ready for her retort.

The redhead glared at him then looked at Shuichi who was for some reason looking at the kitchen from the bedroom and noting down something on his notepad. “Did he hurt you or something?”

Even while knowing what she was on about, he acted oblivious, “Whatever do you mean my precious friend?”

She sat up, looking serious, “You stopped flirting with people for reactions except for one person from _years ago_ , something must be wrong.” Kokichi shifted his position but still smiled. When Himiko was sure that she’s not getting an answer she went back to laying down. “Saihara is a good person, he'd never hurt you on purpose.”

Kokichi’s forced smile was long gone as he cursed under his breath, “I know, I’m just being a jealous piece of shit.” He was never good at handling his emotions, that’s why he exaggerates them or just shuts them down so that no one can figure him out. If Kokichi had to answer honestly, he believes he’s a bad liar. The feelings he keeps bearing is only making him worse, it feels like every day it gets harder and harder to just stay strong.

Himiko had felt his lament and just smiled as she summoned something in her hands. (It was just a magic trick, she pulled it from her sleeves really fast.) “Here, have this.” She gave him a fortune cookie, “I found it when we first entered this place and kept it for later. Maybe it will have some fortune for your situation?”

“Oh screw off.” Kokichi laughed and took it anyway. From the corner of his eye, he could see Shuichi coming back towards them but before he could turn around, Tenko had finally slid out from under the bed.

“Seriously?! There was nothing under the bed! This escape apartment was definitely made by a degenerate male!”

“How’d you even come to that conclusion…” Himiko spoke, burying her face into a pillow.

“Come on Yumeno-san, we need to go search somewhere else!” She easily lifted the sleeping girl from the bed with the pillow.

“NYEH?!”

Then ran out of the room with her. Kokichi could’ve sworn he saw a weird yellow spot under the pillow Himiko was holding onto, was that a clue or was he overthinking it?

“Why do I feel like our existence has been ignored just now.” Shuichi asked, making Kokichi chuckle a bit before he came to a realization.

He turned and accusingly pointed a finger at the detective. “You! Why did you suddenly leave me like that?! I thought you were my partner! Do you not like being around me anymore?” he wailed, tears already spilling everywhere.

“N-no!” Shuichi raised both hands, including the one holding the notepad. “I just noticed that the digital clock here was stuck at 6 pm, and went to check if there were any other clocks that weren’t working as well!”

The tears were gone as fast as they were summoned “Oh? And what did you find?”

“There was a small yellow clock in the kitchen stuck at 3.” Shuichi put a hand over his mouth, thinking. “But I still don’t know what it could mean… We need to look out for more clocks and note them down. We might have already missed one in the entrance room.”

“Saihara-kun! Ouma-kun!” Kiibo headed towards them while holding a lamp, breaking Shuichi from his thoughts. “You have the notepad, right? I think you should note this down.” He said holding the lamp so proudly.

Kokichi took one look at the lamp and started laughing, “Pfft! are you malfunctioning?”

“I’m not even a machine and I’m still offended!” The robotics student frowned, “Also, there is more to this lamp than meets the eye.” Kiibo held the lamp so that the stand was in front of Kokichi, “Tada!”

Shuichi leaned down beside Kokichi’s shoulder to look at what Kiibo was talking about. It seems there was a suspicious red spot that obviously didn’t belong there at the bottom of the stand, just like the one he had seen at the bottom of the pillow Himiko had. The detective started writing that information down immediately, and Kokichi was going to tell him about the yellow spot but could only stare in silence.

“Are you malfunctioning Ouma-kun?” Kiibo asked with an innocent smile. Using his own words against him after he noticed how the purple head had turned to stone when Shuichi leaned close to him for a couple of seconds.

“Aahaha!” Kokichi faked a laugh then smiled threateningly, “Wipe that smile off your face before I-”

That’s when he noticed a certain someone’s gaze at him, they looked at Shuichi who was done writing and was confused at what was going on. Both Kiibo and Kokichi looked like deers caught in headlights.

“U-um Saihara-kun I believe Akamatsu-san told me to call for you! She should be in the room to your right!” Kiibo said after that awkward second of silence.

The raven blinked at how the two of them were acting, “Is that so? thank you, I’ll go see-”

“HOLD YOUR MOTHER FUCKIN’ HORSES.”

They only had a second to see Miu running at them at full speed. She was about to run into Kokichi, but he quickly dodged and jumped to Shuichi’s side making her crash into Kiibo instead.

“...”

Both Kokichi and Shuichi were silent as they watched the poor boy be crushed by her chest. She got up and rubbed her head, even though that wasn’t what should be hurting for her right now. “Kyahaha! You got lucky Kiibo, did you feel them real fuckin’ gooood?”

Kiibo groaned despite being red, “I have the right to not respond to that question.”

Shuichi felt bad for him, he was always getting hit somehow. He turned his attention to the inventor, “Um… what is it Iruma-san?”

“Oh right!” She put a hand… into her chest, and picked up a key. “The gorgeous girl genius strikes again! You better bow if you want this key suckers!”

Kokichi used his lithe body and effortlessly snatched it from her hands, “Too bad, it’s mine now!” Miu was not happy at all.

“Where’d you find it?” Kiibo asked after finally getting up and dusting his clothes.

“Uh?! Um…. well…” She started fidgeting in place, her face flushed.

“Ew,” Kokichi cut her off before she could say anything weird. “I’m uninterested.” He said, turning around to leave the room already, “Let’s go Shumai!”

“Hey! I was going to tell you-!” Miu complained about being ignored but Kokichi wasn't listening.

“Ah- Ouma-kun-” Shuichi’s protests fell to deaf ears as he was dragged out of the room. “Thanks for the help!” He said to Kiibo and Miu before they fully left.

The two robotics students stared at the door before one of them broke the silence. “You wanna know how I got the key, right Kiibo???”

“No thank you.”

* * *

Turns out that Kaede did want to tell Shuichi something, which surprised Kokichi since he assumed that Kiibo just wanted to say anything to distract the raven from asking what was happening. Then again there never was any indication it was a lie, his fingers didn’t twitch, he didn’t avert eye contact, he only looked nervous so maybe it wasn’t much of a surprise.

Kirumi stood next to Kaede as the pianist explained that she had found a watch hidden in one of the drawers around the maze of an apartment. Kirumi held an indigo-coloured wristwatch, stuck at 2 o clock, and handed it to Shuichi.

The detective seemed more interested than she expected, and he looked up to the two girls with a grateful expression. A part of Kokichi loved that expression a lot for some reason, or he just loves all of Shuichi’s expressions...

He may or may not need some serious help.

“What have you two gotten so far anyway?” The blonde asked, trying to look at what Shuichi was writing on the notepad.

“Three clocks now, blue, indigo, and yellow, having different timings. A red spot on a lamp, a yellow spot on a pillow, locked cabinets in the kitchen, and a key.” Shuichi gave a summary of the evidence, “I don’t understand why they all have a different colour though…Since there is a yellow clock and a yellow spot does that mean the two clues are connected? Maybe there are different items with the same coloured spots as the clocks and they help in figuring out which order the hours should be arranged. That means that there is also a passcode somewhere-”

Kokichi blinked at how Shuichi got that much from just a couple of coloured clocks and two spots, “Ooooh, watch out Saihara-chan! Your detective is showing, nishishi!”

The raven blushed, not meaning to even make a theory while thinking out loud. “S-sorry.” He scratched his cheek.

“There is no need to apologize, Saihara-kun. Your theory is quite on point.” Kirumi stated and the other two were quick to agree.

“Yeah! I believe you’re correct!”

“Saihara-chan is just so amazing!”

This only made him blush more, he couldn’t hide under a non-existent hat so he just looked downwards to hide his red face. Kokichi felt his heart soar and it sucked not being able to do anything, well… Other than teasing Shuichi.

But before he could do that Kaede exclaimed, “Oh I know! We should tell everyone to be on the lookout for coloured clocks, and spots on objects. Teamwork will help us finish this faster, don't you think?”

“I think that’s a great idea Akamatsu-san.” Shuichi agreed, “But how will we get everyone to group up again? This apartment is like a maze.”

“If you request me to tell everyone, it won’t be a problem.” Kirumi looked very ready to leave and get to work, despite no one telling her to do anything yet.

Kokichi leaped from beside Shuichi to Kirumi, “No mom! You work too hard every day for us, you need rest~”

“Please, do not refer to me as-” She was cut off as Kokichi brought a chair out of thin air and forced her to sit on it. “Ouma-”

“Nuh-uh! Leave this to a supreme leader!”

Kokichi whistled loudly, three times, and it caught the attention of everyone as they entered the room to see what was up.

“God damn it Ouma, we were investigating.” Kaito huffed, clearly not surprised it was the troublemaker who was whistling.

“Saihara-chan wants to tell you all something!”

Maki and Kaito turned around ready to leave already, but then Kaito noticed Shuichi standing beside Kokichi. “Wait you’re not lying? You caught our attention for an actual purpose?”

Kokichi didn’t say anything and shrugged, would he even believe a liar if he said he wasn’t lying? That’s when Shuichi noticed and assured everyone, “He’s not lying.”

“I’m stunned! Shocked! Astonished!” Tenko exclaimed, clearly not believing the ‘degenerate male’ at first.

Shuichi explained the same thing he had told Kaede and Kirumi earlier with the coloured clocks and spots, and everyone agreed that he was probably on the right track with his theory. With having a goal in mind, the group was filled with determination as they left the room to look for things and report to Shuichi. It was just a matter of time before they had all the evidence they needed, but first they needed to also find what the evidence is _for_.

“Hey darling!”

“Y-you’re talking to me?” Shuichi burned bright red at the nickname, and it made Kokichi feel overjoyed. How can he feel so light in his presence, he hated how much he loved it.

“Yes you! We should leave the scavenger hunt for the clocks and spots to everyone since it’s easy, and look for the places we could enter the passcode once we form it.”

“Alright, maybe the key will help us. Let’s try the cabinets in the kitchen then check the other rooms.”

Well he recovered quickly, maybe he was getting used to his shenanigans after knowing each other for so long. With a smirk, he jumped to his side, “Let’s!”

* * *

Various hues of brown and grey surrounded them as they entered yet another room in the funky apartment. After Angie told them that Atua says they got the wrong key, they couldn’t check if the key opened any cabinet in the kitchen.

Kokichi did say that she did have a point, the key didn’t look like it belonged to a cabinet at all. But she should've just told them so instead of saying it was all Atua's will.

Kiyo was standing in the corner of the room, inspecting rope that was hanging from the ceiling.

“Whatchu looking at Shinguuji-chan?” Kokichi asked when they approached the tall, slender man.

“For a room that seems very ordinary, having a rope hanging like that seems very suspicious, yes?”

“You do have a point.” Shuichi agreed, why have something like that in the corner of the room? The only explanation that comes to mind… “Maybe it’s meant to catch our attention?”

“Yoink!” Kokichi suddenly hopped from his position beside Shuichi and pulled down the rope. Making both Kiyo and Shuichi stare at him wide-eyed from surprise.

They heard a switch right after and before they can look around the room to see what changed a “DAMN IT OUMA!” was heard from another room.

“Wow! How did he ever know it was me?”

Shuichi chuckled, “Can’t blame him for the force of habit after all the pranks you make him go through.”

As expected, Kaito came to the room running and ready to bash the trickster, Kokichi was having none of that and immediately jumped to hide behind his taller friend. “Nishishi, serves you right!” and despite hiding to avoid being hit he instigated Kaito even more.

“How in the world did you manage to prank me in a place like this! Get away from Shuichi so I can give you a taste of your own medicine!” Kaito said waving around a huge book that he was holding onto.

“Momota-kun calm down, it was an accident.” Shuichi explained, shielding the smaller boy from him.

“An accident?” Kaito stopped trying to get to Kokichi, “So you’re telling me this huge ass book fell straight onto my head by chance?”

“Told you so!” Kokichi chirped.

“You said nothing!” Kaito retaliated.

“Interesting, it seems that we were supposed to hear the book hit the ground and look for it, but instead it hit Momota's head.” Kiyo tugged on the rope again to see what would happen, they heard the switch but nothing else. “That means that the book is a clue, yes?”

“Huh? Why the hell would a Japanese to Spanish dictionary be a clue.” Kaito asked, flipping through the pages. “Seems pretty useless to me.”

“Why would it be useless?” Shuichi asked.

“'Cause you have me! I know Spanish!”

“Every single word in that book?” Kiyo asked.

“O-of course!” Kaito was visibly sweating, showing everyone what the actual truth is, much to his dismay.

“Hey Momota-chan! what does soy un gran idiota mean?”

“Oh, easy! I’m a huge idiot! WAIT HEY-”

Kaito went back to chasing after Kokichi, and the smaller boy didn’t have Shuichi defending him this time since the apprentice detective was too busy inspecting the book with Kiyo.

“There seems to be a weird purple spot on one of the pages.”

Shuichi got a bit too excited as they found their next clue and wrote it down, “Do you think this was the only purpose for this book?” He asked.

“I can volunteer to look through each page while you search, it is not that much of a hassle for me. I have read tons of books.” Kiyo stated proudly.

The raven smiled, “I’m counting on you then.” Shuichi wrapped an arm around a running Kokichi, stopping him in his tracks. “Momota-kun are you going to look with us?” He asked.

“With him? Sorry man but you’re dealing with the devil on your own.”

“Um, alright… but Ouma-kun's not that bad.”

“I know but he’s such a pain in the ass sometimes, you have the patience of a saint for dealing with him.” Kaito was rubbing the back of his neck with his eyes closed in thought before he noticed the silence coming from a certain someone. He opened one of his eyes and looked at Kokichi. “Hm? Even though you’re the subject of the topic here you’ve been oddly quiet. Somethin’ wrong?”

Kokichi seemed to have snapped out of his trance with a blink, “Yeah something is wrong! Your face!”

“SAY WHA!?”

Kaito was ready to fight again (which was more like a play of tag thanks to Kokichi's agility) but Shuichi quickly stopped them so they could focus on the escape game instead. They still have a lot to find and solved after all.

When they left the room Kaito was ready to leave and check on what his other sidekick was doing, but he couldn't stop thinking about how Kokichi was acting. He seemed way too out of it, it was almost unnerving.

Tracing back to events, when did he go silent? That was when Shuichi…

Kaito's eyebrows raised in realization, “Oh?” He wasn’t exactly what you’d call an expert in this kind of topic, and as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn’t usually the one to be THAT perceptive, but reacting to Shuichi’s touch like that must mean _something_ right?

Kokichi was still a friend, but he most definitely won’t tell him the truth if he asked. Maybe he should ask for Harumaki's opinion about this.

* * *

Kokichi Ouma always played to win, having fun was also important but how else would you have fun if you’re not destroying your enemies? He always wins, and if he doesn’t then it would be on purpose. Well right now he felt like he was losing, and it wasn’t on any purpose.

His eye twitched as he watched yet another person make their way to Shuichi. “I found an orange spot hidden under a carpet! Aren’t I amazing? Bet you couldn’t have found it without me!” Miu cackled.

“Yeah, thanks Iruma-san.”

“You just made her day by agreeing to that.” Kiibo shook his head and tried to calm the hyperactive Miu down.

He wanted to be more useful too, to impress Shuichi somehow, but how can he when it purely depends on chance whether there’s a clue in the room or not? They have been looking everywhere for a place to use the key, but they couldn’t find a clue. Everyone kept appearing with coloured spots they have found, and colourful clocks and their timings, while they’ve been making no progress.

It was honestly stupid to be feeling this way instead of having fun and appreciating the time he has been having with Shuichi, but he really couldn’t help it when he sees Shuichi’s excitement whenever someone reports something new.

He wanted that expression to be directed at him...

Drastic situations call for drastic measures, he has to do this by himself.

“Hey Shushu, give me the key I want to try looking for its place on my own!”

Shuichi stopped writing on the notepad and turned his attention to him, “on your own?” he looked a bit dejected, or disappointed. If he didn’t know better Kokichi would think Shuichi is sad that he’s leaving him, but that probably would never be the case.

“Aww I know that you don’t want your partner leaving-” He lied, “But a supreme leader like me needs his moment of glory y’know! I bet you I can find it in under a minute!”

“We have been searching all the rooms though…” Shuichi pondered for a moment, before reaching into his pocket and getting the key. “Alright, good luck. I’ll be here if you need me.”

Kokichi jumped as he took the key from the taller's hand, “Aye aye!” and hurriedly left the room so Shuichi couldn’t figure out any emotions he was feeling. In conclusion, that was how Kokichi ended up searching around the whole apartment on his own. But as expected, with his non-existent luck, he found nothing.

That fact made him feel even worse, the idea of going back to Shuichi empty-handed, he couldn’t! He wanted to impress him damn it! But every single cabinet and drawer was open except for the ones in the kitchen, and the key didn’t open them.

He even tried using the fortune cookie that Himiko said she had found inside the apartment, but it had the most useless fortune ever.

“It won’t hurt to use the same advice twice!” Like yeah, no shit! If it’s good advice, of course people will use it twice!

He hit a nearby table without thinking from frustration, but from the corner of his eye noticed _something._ When he hit the table everything on it shook, except for a cup that was holding pens and pencils. **_It was like that cup was stuck to the table._**

Excited at the idea of finding something, he tried tipping the cup over, but it was definitely stuck. He removed the pens and pencils and looked inside the cup to find a keyhole. “No way!” He exclaimed then hastily entered the key.

_Click_

It turned! It worked!

Maybe he did have some luck left after all.

Kokichi looked around the room to see if anything changed but then heard Angie from the kitchen exclaiming that Atua opened one of the cabinets. Atua sure as hell isn’t gonna take his credit, so he ran to Shuichi to tell him about how he saved the day. Maybe if he is still lucky, Shuichi will flash him one of his shining smiles.

* * *

As Shuichi expected, there was indeed a keypad requiring a passcode inside one of the kitchen cabinets, there were two possibilities, that the keypad will open another cabinet or that it will open something else inside the apartment. Seeing how they found nothing else locked while looking around though, the answer is probably the former rather than the latter.

But something he didn’t expect at all was the power extension cord resting inside the cabinet.

“I think I know where that cord goes.” Rantaro commented from behind him.

Shuichi blinked in surprise, “Ah Amami-kun, I didn’t notice you there.”

“Sorry did I startle you? Haha.” The green-haired teen rubbed the back of his neck apologetically.

“No, it’s alright.” Shuichi reassured, he was just lost in his mind again after all. These instances happen to him a lot, especially with how Kokichi always appears behind him. “You said you might know what the power extension cord is for?”

His friend nodded, “Yeah, remember the office room? We couldn’t turn on the computer because we couldn't connect it to any socket, maybe the power extension cord is supposed to help us turn it on.”

Shuichi was about to agree, when something flashed behind his friend like a lightning bolt and before he knew it Kokichi had jumped straight onto his chest making the both of them almost topple over.

“Agh Ouma-kun?!”

“He’s MY partner, not yours!” Kokichi hissed at Rantaro, making the green-haired male laugh.

“Chill, I didn’t mean to steal him.”

“I hate liars! Liar liar pants on fire!”

Shuichi could only wheeze from Kokichi squeezing him tighter, high from the pain of his back against a countertop and having a certain someone that close to him. In fact, this might be the closest they’ve ever been. He shook his head in disbelief of his own thoughts, he’s in pain and *that’s* what he’s thinking about. Good job Shuichi, way to hide your feelings.

“I think you’re cutting his oxygen intake.” Rantaro chuckled, amused by the fact Shuichi’s face will probably start steaming if it got any redder.

And just like that, Kokichi finally let go, letting Shuichi hold his back in pain. “Ow…”

Worry flashed by the purple-head’s face before he looked back at Rantaro and started saying how it was his fault Shuichi was in pain. Rantaro just kept laughing the more frustrated accusations Kokichi spat at him.

* * *

“To be honest, I didn’t expect an awfully saturated screen of colours when I first looked at this computer.” Maki said, sounding disappointed, but she always has a straight face that most of the time you can’t be sure of how she’s feeling.

Shuichi wasn’t a fan of the screen as well, it was burning his eyes (especially the red bar) so he quickly jotted down the order and turned it off. It was just stuck on the screen anyway, there was nothing else it could be of use for. “So green, blue, red, yellow, orange, purple, indigo.”

He looked back at Maki to find her looking at her phone, he already lost her interest because she probably already learned the order herself. But an alarm rang in his head the moment he saw Kokichi behind her.

“Ohhh cats huh?”

Maki’s eyebrow twitched, “Stop looking at my screen before I change my mind and choke you.”

“Nishishi! You’re cuter than you seem! Or maybe that’s what you want me to believe.”

“Four… three…”

“Okay okay! Gee!” Kokichi jumped back to Shuichi’s side.

“I’m surprised you would make it so easy for someone to look at your phone Harukawa-san.” Shuichi said with an impressed smile.

Maki twirled her hair with one hand and looked to the side, “Yeah I used to not play this game in public, but an idiot told me to be more open… I guess this is my way of trying it.”

Shuichi wasn’t sure that’s what Kaito meant by being more open but it was still an improvement he was happy to see.

“Hey hey! Makiroll!”

“Don’t call me that-”

Kokichi laughed, “I saw Ryoma playing that same game before! Do whatever you want with that information.”

Maki’s eyes widened just a bit as she looked at him, as if trying to analyze whether he’s lying or not. But then she sighed with a smile, “I’ll… ask him about that. Thanks.”

Shuichi couldn’t believe what was happening in front of him, but he was happy that Maki ended up taking Kokichi’s suggestion. If anything, it just shows how much progress she has gone through if she’s ready to reveal something she finds embarrassing to Ryoma and asking him if he plays it as well. Maybe he should thank Kokichi later for not making fun of her, but that’s a bit of a weird reason to thank someone isn’t it? Well, Kokichi was always out of the ordinary.

* * *

  
Everyone gathered in the kitchen after they found the order of the code, and looked at Shuichi as he wrote down on the notepad and summarised the evidence they had and what they could do with it.

“Alright, we have found six clocks in the apartment, the orange one is stuck at 1, the blue one is at 6, the indigo one is at 2, the yellow and purple ones at 3, the green one is at 5, and red is at 4.” They all surrounded the kitchen table as Shuichi outlined all the information they have. “Then we have the order of colours that we discovered from the computer screen after it was plugged in: Green, Blue, Red, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Indigo.”

“Oh that’s easy then, we just need to combine the two and we will have our code?” Kaito asked the detective.

“Then the code is 5643132. “ Maki stated, probably wanting to get this over with already.

“Oh oh! I can do it!” Kokichi ran towards the keypad and put in the numbers, “Oh?”

“What’s wrong?” Shuichi asked.

“Our code is what’s wrong!”

Maki rolled her eyes, “this isn’t the time for your pranks.” She went to the cabinet where Kokichi was standing and put in the code for herself, only to get a red error as the code cleared and waited for her to put in the right one. “Oh, the password is wrong.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t believe me the first time! I know I put in the wrong code on purpose to mess with you guys but you’re so mean!”

“So you did put the wrong code? What the hell man.” Kaito shook his head.

“But if Harukawa-san put in the code does that mean the code we have is wrong too?” Kaede asked.

“Seems like it.”

Silence befell the group as they looked at Shuichi who was thinking until he finally spoke up “That means the computer screen was a clue relating to the coloured spots.”

“Ohhh I totally forgot about that! Maybe this was their way of misleading us.” Kokichi said but for some reason Shuichi didn’t completely believe him, he for sure remembered the spots and was just waiting for Shuichi to catch up.

“But what do we do now? Is there any other place we have seen an order of those colours?” Kaede asked as she looked around the kitchen.

“I think I might have a possible lead, it might not be the answer but it’s something worth considering.” Korekiyo calmly stated, diverting all the attention to him. “The colours that we have, do they not seem like a familiar set of colours?”

“As in… the colours of a rainbow?” Rantaro asked.

“Precisely, and a rainbow has a certain order of colours, yes?”

Everyone seems to have caught on to what Korekiyo was suggesting, but Tsumugi was the one to say it out loud, “If the order is: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Then the code is 4135623.”

Kokichi jumped from his position to go put in the code, but then Ryoma had stood in front of him stopping him in his tracks. “Yeah, no, I want to finish this and go to sleep.” The purple head giggled as Ryoma put in the code himself, and then after a moment of silence, everyone cheered as the next cabinet had opened.

Inside the next cabinet was yet another keypad, but this time it was alphanumeric. Shuichi knew immediately that figuring out the code will be trickier this time.

“The English alphabet huh?” Kaito started testing out the keypad, learning how to put in the letters. While he was trying to figure that out the group worked on the next code.

“Alright…” Shuichi started, putting his notepad on the kitchen table. “We have a lamp with a red spot, a pillow with a yellow spot, a purple spot on a book, an indigo spot on a spoon, a blue spot on a plush giraffe, a green spot under a chair-”

“Don’t forget the orange spot under the carpet that only the gorgeous girl genius could find!”

“Yes Iruma-san, I was about to mention that.”

“So…” Maki started “If the keypad is alphanumeric does that mean we need the names of the objects in order?”

“Nah, that would be too long.” Kaito disagreed, “You can only put in 7 digits.”

“I think she's on the right track, maybe we need one letter from each word.” Ryoma said as he stepped closer to the keypad, “See the alphabets above the numbers? We just need to type in the number corresponding to each letter and we will have the code.”

“The first thing that comes to mind is the first letter, right?” Tsumugi asked, “I plainly do not see another option unless we are missing evidence.”

“Yeah, you’re right! The first letter of each word has got to be what we need!” Kokichi agreed, moving his fists excitedly.

“If you’re agreeing then it has to be the wrong choice, doesn’t it.” Tsumugi sighed.

“Ouma-kun, do you know something we don’t?” Shuichi asked, suspicious at how quickly Kokichi jumped to agree.

“Wha-! How could you accuse me of such a thing! I know as much as you all know!” Kokichi's smile fell as tears welled up in his eyes, “you’re so mean! I can’t believe I trusted you enough to let you be my partner only to be suspected like this!”

Despite Shuichi knowing the tears were fake, he felt his heart drop at the sight of Kokichi crying. “No- I- I believe you! So please stop crying!”

In a matter of seconds, the waterfall had stopped, “Y-you do?” He looked up at Shuichi with innocent wide teary eyes as he got closer and held onto his shirt.

Everyone watched with bated breath for Shuichi’s next move.

“Yes, so please don’t be sad.” Shuichi, failing to notice the two of them being in the spotlight, wiped away Kokichi’s tears with his thumb. “Now let’s get back to-” he froze as he turned around and saw a bunch of eyes on him.

The group burst laughing at Shuichi’s dumbfounded face and Kokichi standing rock solid at the detective's sudden tenderness towards him. He felt like he didn’t deserve it, but he felt selfish enough to want more.

Hiding his feelings any longer is going to be very hard.

“Okay okay, can we go back to the topic at hand, please? I feel like I’m about to pass out.” Shuichi pleaded with his friends.

“Pass out from how cheesy that was?” Kokichi teased.

“No! From lack of sleep!” Shuichi sighed, “Why am I even explaining myself.”

“Well, I have something that’s been on my mind for a while.” Kaito finally saved the detective by catching everyone’s attention, “What language are the words gonna be in? English? Because I doubt any of us know it here. Well, except me of course!”

“You know English?” Maki asked.

“Yea! I know many languages! But English is kind of rusty for me so I doubt I’ll know all the words we need…”

“Hmmm, I don’t think they would let a puzzle depend on someone’s knowledge of a language.” Kaede tilted her head in thought, “Maybe there is a clue? Like a translation book that could help us.”

“Oh,” Kiyo stepped forward with a book in his hand. “You mean this?”

“Yumeno-san be careful! Any book held by a degenerate male is sure to contain filthy content!” Tenko suddenly exclaimed, shielding Himiko's eyes.

“Nyeh???”

“Why yes behold the filthy content of a Japanese to Spanish dictionary.” Kiyo said sarcastically with a straight face, opening the book in front of Tenko to show how far off her imagination was.

“Oh wow I did not expect to be right!” Kaede clapped her hands from excitement and giggled.

“So we just need to use the dictionary to get the words of the objects, then rearrange them according to the colour order we have, take the first letter of each word, then put it in the keypad according to which number has which letter.” Rantaro summarized.

“We got this!” Kaede exclaimed.

“Praise be to Atua for helping us unravel this mystery!” Angie leaned from side to side with a smile, ready to get this over with and go back to sleep.

“Gonta knew we could do this! Friends are very smart!”

“Finally.” Ryoma sighed, clearly tired.

“What are you waiting for Saihara-chan? We’ll finally get outta here!” Kokichi asked the spaced-out detective.

“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m just… Not sure if we have the right answer.” Shuichi rubbed the back of his neck, and Kokichi could only stare at him for a moment before he mentally kicked himself for doing so.

“It’s still a lead though, riiiiight?” Kokichi said, playfully poking Shuichi's cheek.

Shuichi laughed, “Right.” and playfully poked Kokichi’s nose in return before going back to the rest of the group to look for the Spanish words.

Kokichi blinked once, then twice, before he registered what just happened. He put a hand over his heart as a smile crept onto his face, then took a deep breath and went back to the group as well.

* * *

“Momota-chaaan this is taking forever, didn’t you say that you know Spanish? Why can’t you tell us the words yourself!” Kokichi rolled off the couch he was laying on, onto the floor. “This is boriiing.”

“It's boring because you’re not helping!” Kaito countered as he helped the group gather words from the book, “and it’s better to play the game the way it’s meant to be played and get the words ourselves!”

“Are you sure you just don’t want us to see how bad your Spanish is.” Maki asked, tugging on her bangs.

“Hey! I’m fluent in Spanish!”

“Anyway, we're almost done so it’s not like you’re gonna speed the process with your knowledge that much.” Maki looked ready to just head back to bed but stayed standing near the group.

“Waaait what would be the word for the giraffe plush? Giraffe, or plush?” Tenko asked.

“I believe we found that one around many other stuffed animals, so the word should be Giraffe.” Kirumi stated, flipping the pages of the dictionary to get the Spanish word.

“Amazing Tojo san!” The aikido master exclaimed, “I’m 1000% sure you’re right!”

“Yeah if there were different plushies around then choosing the Giraffe means they want the name of it specifically.” Rantaro agreed.

“I am now 999% sure.”

“So…” Rantaro ignored Tenko’s comment, “That’s the last one right? The last word to find.”

“Yeah! We just need to order them! Saihara-chan, care to take the honor?” Kokichi jumped onto Shuichi’s lap, “With your partner of course!”

“Ouma-kun…” It was hard to get used to how close Kokichi can get, it was like personal space didn’t matter to him, not with Shuichi at least. But somehow the detective didn’t mind it that much anymore, it was still embarrassing in front of everyone though. If they were alone then… he would be the one to...

“Saihara-chan’s really quiet! Enjoying yourself, aren't you? You better be, you have me on your lap after all! Nishishi!”

“Ouma-kun stop messing with him! Geez!” Kaede pouted, both hands on her hips. “Seriously.” She leaned closer towards Shuichi’s face, “Is he alright? I think you broke him.”

“Hm?” Kokichi leaned closer to Shuichi’s face as well, and they both watched his face turn red. Before he blinked and came back to reality to find violet eyes staring at him.

“WEH?!”

“Pfff- BWAHAHHAA!” Kokichi shook as he laughed and fell right off Shuichi’s lap, he hit the ground with a thud but instead held onto his stomach as he continued laughing.

“Oh geez.” Kaede shook her head, but she couldn't hide her smile or the giggle that escaped her. “I admit, you make some funny noises Saihara-kun.”

“Wh-why were you two that close to my face!” Shuichi defended himself.

“Seems you spaced out, sorry if we scared you.”

Shuichi looked down at Kokichi who was on the floor with an unforgiving glare.

“Saihara-chan I’m not laughing at you! I’m laughing because you’re just so cute!” Shuichi only pouted and turned his attention back to the notepad. “I’m sooorry I love youuu.” Kokichi said, holding onto the detective dramatically. The group couldn’t even believe what they were seeing.

“Okay so, the words we have collected are Lampara, Almohada, Diario, Cuchara, Jirafa, Silla and Alfombra. Taking the first letter of each word and arranging them in the order Green, blue, red, yellow, orange, purple, indigo results in the code **SJLAADC** ” Shuichi concluded, “Sounds good to everyone?”

“Yea! Punch it in peasant!”

Kaito rolled his eyes at the gremlin's order, “I just have to press the numbers that have the letters on them, right?” He said as he pressed the first button, “755… 2232…” The astronomy student recited as he punched in each number, but got an error in the end. “Huh- I’m sure I put it in right though.”

“Does that mean our code was wrong?” Gonta asked.

“Maybe we used the wrong word for one of the objects.” Maki suggested with a hand on her chin.

“I knew the giraffe was wrong!” exclaimed Tenko.

“No, no I’m sure everything was right, everything we have is from clues given to us, but one of the things we did to get to this conclusion was a guess that was probably wrong.” Shuichi said.

“You mean guessing that they wanted the first letter of each word?” Kirumi asked, “there was no proof behind it, we just assumed that would be what they wanted.”

“Right, but that means we are missing evidence that helps us determine which letter is needed in each word.” Shuichi replied.

“Didn’t we guess the rainbow sequence earlier.” Ryoma stated. “Not all the evidence has to be given to us on a silver plate.”

“No, actually… I’m sure there was a painting of a rainbow in one of the rooms. It was probably a clue to that first code.” Rantaro said in response.

“Nyeh… This is making my head hurt. Can we give up if we have hit a wall?” Himiko fell onto the couch behind her and decided to lay on it because standing was too much work.

“I’m starting to feel the same way too…” Tsumugi said, “We have searched everything and I simply did not see anything that could help us determine the letters.”

“Maybe we already have everything we need though.” Kokichi said with his hands behind his head.

“What do you mean?” asked Shuichi.

“Just look at the evidence again dummy! I’m sure you’ll find the answer! I believe in you!” Kokichi said, getting his voice all cutesy towards the end like some anime girl encouraging him.

“Huh? Alright…” Shuichi went back to the first page of the notepad and started reviewing everything.

They have seven words and need seven digits from seven letters in those words, how will they find the letters they need? The only way is… A code with seven numbers to determine the position of letters in each word. Do they have a code with seven numbers? Shuichi flipped through the pages until he noticed handwriting that was way different than his, in one of the pages someone had written something without him looking.

“It won’t hurt to use the same advice twice.” He read aloud, “Ouma-kun, did you write this?”

“I didn’t write nothing!”

Okay, he definitely wrote that, but what does he mean? Is the answer using evidence they’ve already used? If that’s the case then…

“4135623.” Shuichi said, “the code we used before can help us find the letters for this puzzle!”

“But how?” asked Tsumugi.

Shuichi covered his mouth in thought as he began speaking, “There are seven numbers and seven words, seven letters to find, the first colour is green, the green spot was on the chair which gives us the Spanish word Silla, the first number in the code we have is 4 meaning we take the fourth letter from that word.”

“So the first letter is L!” exclaimed Kaede.

“Oh oh! The second colour was blue which was on the giraffe, we take the first letter from the word Jirafa and that means our second letter is J!” Angie chimed in.

“The lamp had a red spot, so taking the third letter from Lampara… our third letter is M!” said Kiibo.

The group started solving the puzzle together, and Shuichi wrote down each letter they found until they had the password.

“Momota-chan, Momota-chan! Put the password in!”

“Alright alright! Calm down!” Kaito looked back at the keypad, “LJMHBIC, so it’s… 5564242.”

Everyone watched with bated breath until they saw the next cabinet open by itself then erupted into cheers. It was as if they had just been saved from a life or death situation.

“Amazing Saihara-chan! I knew you could do it!” Kokichi said, jumping to hug his favorite detective from behind.

“Yeah that was so smart! Good job Shuichi!” Kaito agreed, patting his side kick’s shoulder while Kokichi was still hugging him, dude was so short a significant portion of Shuichi’s back was still exposed. He wondered how Shuichi hadn't noticed just how attached to him Kokichi has been.

“Thanks.” Shuichi smiled, blushing a bit from how Kokichi was clinging onto him in front of everyone. “But I couldn’t have done it without you guys, thank you all for your hard work!”

“Yeah!” The group cheered.

It was a matter of time till they were free from the escape room, as they all insisted Shuichi would be the one to take the key from the cabinet and unlock the door. Once they were free a young man with wild white hair congratulated them for escaping and for holding onto hope to the point they did it. It was a bit creepy so everyone just laughed it off and said their thanks as they left.

* * *

Looking at the orange and pink hue of the sky, Kaede couldn’t help but smile to herself as a calm melody played in her head. It was just so perfect for this moment and she wishes the others could hear it too, her hands were itching to just play it for them. She can already imagine herself doing so.

Thinking of her friends, she looked around to check on what everyone was doing. Some of them have grouped up and started chatting while walking, the others just stayed alone in silence and enjoyed the view of the orange sky and the pink clouds, but… two friends seemed to be doing both. She could see Kokichi and Shuichi walking beside each other, but they weren’t talking or anything, just walking in silence.

Shuichi seemed to be lost in his mind again, he didn’t look troubled or anything, but she could notice how his strides were shorter so Kokichi could easily catch up to him. Meanwhile, Kokichi had his hands lazily behind his head, his signature smile on his face and he looked so… content? And- Oh no, he’s looking directly at her! Abort!

She can already somehow feel him smirking behind her back, and just as she feared, footsteps could be heard coming towards her.

“Hey Akamatsu-chan, don’t think I’ll be letting you off the hook for peeking!”

“Peeking? But you’re literally out in public.”

“Nishishi you got me!”

Her friend was the same as ever, but since she had his attention, she did have something she’d been meaning to ask about.

“Hey, Ouma-kun, when are you going to tell him?”

“Never.” Kokichi simply replied, not even playing dumb. If it was someone else he would, but he’s grown close to Kaede throughout these years of suffering.

“But why? I already told you he feels the same way.”

“Lower your voice…” He whispered, making her glance at Shuichi to find him looking at them, he got too shy though for being caught and looked away. Poor guy, he probably was just wondering why Kokichi left his side. “And I have my reasons alright?”

“Don’t tell me..” Her purple eyes widened and she looked at Kokichi with disbelief, “You’re actually a spy and dating Saihara-kun would put him in danger!”

Kokichi laughed, “Yeah exactly! You’re sharp!”

The pianist was happy to bring up her friend’s mood, but she needed to get serious. “Look I may watch too many dramas and read a lot of romance novels… but I think I know enough to decipher what’s going on here.” She started, “Ouma-kun, you think Saihara-kun deserves better. Don’t you?” Kokichi stopped walking, and Kaede stopped as well, looking at her friend whose face was obscured by his bangs, just staring at the ground. “That's why you don’t even try, you always ask for his attention but the moment it's on you, you run away.”

At that, Kokichi raised his head in surprise, but then started laughing “Ahaha what are you saying Akamatsu-chan? Of Course I’m good enough, the one who is too good for the other is me!”

She wasn’t going to be fooled by his words, Kaede noticed, after all, she noticed how Kokichi would always try to get Shuichi to spend time with her. He even said so himself once, that Kaede is much suited for the detective. Why would he keep saying that when he obviously has a crush on him? It’s not true at all, Kokichi really loves Shuichi. Whenever he enters the room he always runs up to him, whenever Kokichi tells a joke he’s always looking at Shuichi to see if he’s laughing. He wasn’t fooling anyone. “Are you lying to yourself? Do you think I should be the one with him instead?”

“You two are the perfect couple! Of course I think he should be with you, silly Akamatsu-chan.”

Talking to him always led her to go in circles, like there was never a conclusive ending to this maze. But if something was obvious enough for her, it was that Kokichi was in pain.

She gently held onto his hand and buried the boy’s face in her chest, “It’s alright, there’s nothing wrong with feeling that way. But you are an amazing person Kokichi Ouma and you should give Saihara-kun the chance to decide.” She reassured, and she can sense Kokichi’s shoulders becoming less tense.

“Akamatsu-chan you’re so stupid…”

Kokichi didn’t hug back but she was glad she could comfort him a little. When she opened her eyes, Kaede saw Shuichi running towards them since the group didn't notice the two falling behind. As Shuichi came close his face went through a bunch of expressions that the pianist had to stop herself from giggling. First determined, then confused, concerned and lastly a bit jealous. Probably misunderstanding what’s going on.

She let go of Kokichi and the smaller looked at the confused Shuichi dumbfounded, not realizing he was there. “OHHH sorry if I got you jealous nishishi!” little did Kokichi know, he was right, but for the wrong reason.

“Are you two okay? The group is waiting.”

“Yeah, we will catch up! Sorry about that!” Kaede apologized, “Oh but, Saihara-kun? Ouma-kun needs to tell you something.”

“No, I don’t.’’ Kokichi wanted to say, but the moment those golden eyes were on him his throat tightened and he wasn't able to say anything.

“I’ll give you guys some privacy, feel free to catch up to us when you’re ready!” She quickly made her way back to the walking group of friends up ahead, leaving a confused Shuichi and a silent Kokichi behind.

“Ouma-kun?” Shuichi looked at him with such a concerned expression, the purple head felt like he didn’t even deserve that worry directed at him.

“Let’s start walking so we can catch up to them.” Kokichi said, and they started just walking together again in silence just like earlier.

_“You should give Saihara-kun the chance to decide.”_

Kokichi liked to believe that he understood many things, that nothing could catch him by surprise. But one of the things he just couldn’t understand was this apprentice detective he met on his first day at college. He may look boring, but he had so much more in him, and he wished Shuichi himself could see it. Could see all the amazing things he could see, his perseverance, his cleverness, his kindness… Kokichi found himself falling for someone who was the opposite of him, someone who preferred being alone instead of with others, who liked silence over having any noise in the background, and preferred being at home rather than going outside.

Maybe there will be fights between them over their differences, or maybe they will teach each other to like the things the other likes. And maybe… he can show Shuichi all the things he liked about him, make him believe that his words all this time were no lie.

He may not believe that he is good enough for Shuichi, but with Kaede’s words in his mind, he really wanted to be good enough. He wanted to try and see where this road would take the both of them together. He wanted to date Shuichi, to hug him whenever he was feeling sad, kiss him goodnight, go on dates together, live together, grow old together. Perhaps it was just his longing speaking, pining for someone for so long that he ended up craving so much. But he didn’t find himself caring, he wanted to be good enough!

So with the sun leaving the sky, making the oranges start mixing with purples and indigos. And as he stared at venus shining it’s way to planet earth, making it the first bright thing you see in the sky after sunset. Kokichi closed his eyes, felt the gentle breeze on his face, heard the soft murmurs of his friends talking in the distance, and heard the breathing of his crush beside him. He decided that he will be good enough, and he is willing to take the risk of heartbreak if it means he can be any closer to Shuichi. If things do not work out he will not regret it, because Shuichi has already given him so many things he is grateful for. Memories, emotions he didn’t know he was even capable of, and the feeling of felicity whenever he was around.

* * *

They were walking on a bridge above a river, getting closer to their friends, when Kokichi stopped walking and called out to him. Making his heart stop for a second.

"Hey, Saihara-chan." He sounded… off. Not in a bad way but his voice felt way gentler than what Shuichi was used to hearing. It only made the detective more worried.

"Yeah?" He responded, uncertainty tinting his voice.

"Today was fun! Maaaybe, we should do it again sometime!" Of course, if Shuichi knows anything about his close friend, it’s that he loves mysteries and solving them. He was like an excited puppy when they were making their way to the escape room, so of course, he wants to do it again. But just when Shuichi was going to reply with his agreement, Kokichi continued talking, "Just the..." he took a deep breath, "...two of us."

The raven blinked from surprise, feeling his heart pick up speed. “The two of us?”

“A date, Sherlock, I’m asking you out on a date.” The purple head’s eyebrows furrowed again, frustrated that Shuichi had him say it out loud.

The two of us…

A date…

He couldn’t believe it, his feelings, the feelings he has been trying to deny this whole time, were reciprocated. Is this Kokichi’s way of saying it? He doesn’t sound like he’s lying… Was that what he wanted to tell him? Did Kaede know about this?

Shuichi pushed all those questions aside for later, turned to fully face Kokichi and stepped forward towards the unsuspecting male. Kokichi was watching his every move with confused eyes, as he reached out to hold his hands gently. Maybe it was just the lighting’s fault, but he could see Kokichi’s cheeks tinted red.

“I would love to.” He finally replied, and Kokichi had the most shocked expression he had ever witnessed on his face. The shorter boy lit up like a Christmas tree as he let go of his hands to hug him tightly, showing that he feels the same way.

“You mean it right? No take backsies!” It was like Kokichi was radiating warm sunlight onto his unworthy being, his smile so bright that he couldn’t help but find himself smiling as well.

“Mhm.” Shuichi hummed. Never in a million years would he expect to have a crush on Kokichi, and never would he have expected that Kokichi would feel the same. But he was happy, really happy that they did. He might not know what fate has in store for them, but he was excited to know. As he held onto Kokichi’s warm hand and walked back to their friends, he hoped that the planet of love, shining above them, was on their side.

**Author's Note:**

> The first star you see after the sunset isn’t actually a star, it’s Venus, the planet of love!


End file.
